After missing it’s November release date, Taxman and Stealth’s remastering of Sonic 2 is finally coming to iOS and Android tomorrow. The delay is made worthwhile though with the addition of perhaps the most well known of the scrapped levels found in the beta versions: the Hidden Palace Zone. If you’ve played the duo’s Sonic 1 iOS/Android remastering, you probably know that they like to add other new stuff to the game. So you can probably expect other new features in this release as well.

If you already own the former Sonic 2 iOS port, you’ll be able to download this new version as a free update. This is the first time the game is released on Android though, so your only option is to buy it new when it comes to that platform. You can find a couple more screenshots of the remastering below.

2. iOS and Android devices support many wireless controllers, maybe even some wired ones that I’m not aware of, and the Sonic 1 & CD remakes make use of this.

3. Get a device with mini HDMI-out support, hook that thing up to as big a screen as you want, with an appropriate gamepad.

4. Get BlueStacks, a Windows/OSX Android emulator, hook your PC up to as big a screen as you want, with an appropriate gamepad or keyboard. How you get the APK, I’ll leave up to you.

5. Yes, touch controls can go die in a fire.

But this is all going around the main question. Which I am also asking. Why the hell not? I’m pretty sure Steam’s selling a crappy emulator and ROM combo, so did the Apple App Store, but that thing now has the remake, so why isn’t there a PC release?

Ugh. I’m not sure I like the inclusion of HPZ. First, from those screenshots, it feels they’re adding changes and additions that the stage that don’t fit and would never have been included had the level been finished and put in the original Sonic 2, like that weird water trap thingy, or that area that has looks like it has too much empty space between the floor and the rocks below it, making this version of the level somewhat unfaithful. Second, the point of HPZ was being a secret stage that would grant Sonic the ability to go Super, ala the S3&K HPZ that is accessible via giant disco rings and gives you the ability to become Hyper Sonic; surely it won’t have this feature in this port (considering that the final Sonic 2 gives you the power as soon as you collect all the emeralds, and tying Super Sonic’s origin to HPZ would screw up continuity), which means that the level will no longer serve its intended purpose all will thus be less special. Third, much of the mystique of the level is that it was scrapped, which keeps it mysterious as we don’t fully know what it would have been like; giving us a finished, fully playable version of the level would take that away. Fourth, the stage was already included in S&K. No, I don’t care if it looks totally different in there and has a different layout; it’s still the same concept (a hidden underground palace that is tied to the Chaos Emeralds and gives you a new transformation) and name, making the inclusion of this level in Sonic 2 redundant, and the concept less unique.

Really. That’s your big fear about this level. That…I mean…look, sometimes I care way more about continuity than I should, but if you get warped there after getting the emeralds, I think the last thing that would pop in my head is continuity. Because it wouldn’t mess up anything involving that.

Also, giving the fans something they’ve been asking for since 1992? A fully playable Hidden Palace Zone? I don’t think that would kill any of the mystique. It’ll just be a really cool thing that will be extra. It’s been over 20 years, I think we’re allowed to not be so obsessed over the level that having it playable in a commercial product in any form is going to ruin it. Especially since it’s in Taxman and Stealth’s hands. No two people do I trust more to restore that level than they.

You could wait until you play it. I’m pretty sure the beginning will be really close to what we already know. But having just that part in there would make the level…like, 30 seconds long and end abruptly.

You cannot be serious- I mean -Are you kidding me?! In all honesty I can see your side of the argument very clearly, but I must admit that you are bold for bothering to actually say something about it. Well, like it or not, Hidden Palace Zone is coming so get prepared. 😐

(at Reddik)
1. Complaining because they’re adding new stuff to a level that was originally scrapped and calling it “unfaithful” to said SCRAPPED level (of which we know, what, 25% of the layout?) literally makes no sense.
2. Including the level won’t make it any less special than it is now. Even if it was meant to be “a secret level that would grant Sonic the ability to go Super”, it ended up not being so, so I don’t really see how including it in this release would make it less special. (imo, it makes it even more special than it already was)
3. The “mystique” of the level being scrapped isn’t exactly affected, since they’re creating a custom layout for it, thus the original/possible layout still remains a mystery.
4. Since they dropped the concept of it being a “secret level” and stuff, I don’t see any other connection to the S&K level other than the name and the fact they share the cave theme. Plus, it was originally conceived as a S2 level and we all know it, so why would it be redundant to include it in this release?

I really hope that they have more art than what we’ve seen in mockups. Every time I see that level in hacks its art clashes REALLY BADLY with everything else.

Not to put down the art, it’s just not in a consistent style with /anything else/ in Sonic 2. HPZ is fairly consistent with the 3D-rendered style that Sonic often played with — it got repackaged as Ice Cap after all — and it’s got VERY nice color management. Foreground’s a little desaturated, but, hey, you gotta do what you can with the hardware you’re given.

To anyone bitching about HPZ in this release… please do the rest of us a solid and go disappear. Tax and Stealth have WANTED so bad to put new content in these games, and now we are finally getting it.

@TripleXero
Just because I don’t have any of these mobile devices doesn’t mean I’ve never touched one in my life. I used to have an iPod Touch. I’m not saying anything against SEGA, touch controls just don’t work with this kind of game.

Having finally played the remake, I hate to say it, but I’m a bit underwhelmed by its version of HPZ. Now it’s just another regular Zone (with the exception of the fat that it’s hidden and optional) as it has no ties to the emeralds nor it’s an important location story-wise. Though I can understand that. Like someone said, linking it with the emeralds would probably cause issues, so it’s forgivable that they severed the ties. What I cannot forgive, however, is that it uses the 2-player MCZ BGM. What the *bleep*? Why!? I know that the HPZ from the Simon Wai prototype used that music, but when as we all know, an unique (and awesome) theme was composed specifically for the level after that beta and it’s included in the final Sonic 2 version as an unused track. Why on Earth didn’t they use it rather than assigning a tune associated with MCZ to HPZ? Were they too lazy to remaster it? What a waste of an amazing track!

Mute the game and play the original track. It doesn’t fit the speed and style of the level at all. It’d be like putting Starlight in Marble Zone. In that respect, it’s easy to see why they made that call.

You have Stealth’s ego to blame for that. He always refused to accept that that unused song in Sonic 2 was meant to be HPZ’s music, on the basis that “it doesn’t fit”. Which is laughable if you ask me, considering that it fits it perfectly (not to mention that the Zone DOES use it in the final game).
I agree about that it’s a huge letdown that it wasn’t used. Not only is it a beautiful tune, but it would enhance the atmosphere a lot. Instead we got the ugly 2p mode MCZ song. That, coupled with the fact that the remake’s HPZ is treated like a regular level, makes it feel like a generic underground level. Not to mention that it’s disrespectful toward the developers (especially Masato) to discard the song they intended by used by the Zone. Bleh.

And GeneHF, you might not care about an arrogant ascended fanboy messing with the game and assigning to HPZ a tune that the original developers didn’t intend to belong to it, but some of us do. This kind of BS is why I was skeptical at the idea of Taxman adding new Zones to his Sonic remakes. When I saw the pics of the scrapped “extra levels” for the Sonic CD rermake and he stated that he wanted to add them but Sega stopped him from doing it, I felt we dodged a bullet. By the way, what would you say if they replaced EHZ’s tune with that of the 2p mode version?

I still stand by their decision since I never thought #10 would fit any level. Too slow and almost depressing sounding. Hell, as a kid, I thought it was a bad ending theme or a game over song. And if we’re going to pull “developer’s intent” here, you’d have gotten HPZ as a glorified cutscene stage where you get Super Sonic and… that’s it. That’s what Naka had planned for it. If anything, Taxman and Stealth gave this stage the much needed face lift to make it interesting.

There’s more the story about the level and SEGA, but I’ll leave it up to the developers if they want to share it. All I know is that at least the original artist and some other original staff are happy with how the stage appears and are represented. That to me speaks more than the fan reaction.